In sports, and especially sports in which the body is intermittently or continuously kept in a forward-tilted state, it is becoming recognized that it is important to “erect the pelvis” while the upper body is being tilted forward. In bicycle racing, for example, a riding form in which the pelvis is erect with respect to the road surface is an important form for transmitting leg force to the bicycle in a prolonged and efficient manner, but it is difficult for riders, especially those with little experience, to maintain a continuous pelvis-erected posture, and with time, the upper body tends to “collapse” as the pelvis becomes inclined with respect to the road surface.
When the upper body collapses, the center of gravity is shifted forward and the body weight presses more on the arms and shoulders, producing pain on these areas, as well as on the waist and butt areas. In addition, collapse of the upper body prevents raising of the knees and interferes with efficient transmission of leg force to the bicycle, thus necessitating greater force for pedaling and potentially leading to leg pain and cramping. Therefore, researches for sports wear that can assist in erecting the pelvis and maintaining a continuous pelvis-erected posture, especially for riders with little experience are conducted.
Similarly, in sports in which a forward-tilted posture is continuously maintained, such as, motorcycling, speed skating and skiing, as well as in sports in which a forward-tilted posture is intermittently maintained, such as, tennis, using sports wear that assists in maintaining a posture that erects the pelvis itself is thought to produce an effect that allows leg force to be efficiently transmitted to the ground.
However, no sports wear designed to erect the pelvis and maintain an erect state of the pelvis has yet been disclosed, in the aforementioned fields of bicycling, motorcycling, speed skating and skiing.
As clothing that assists a forward-tilted posture, there is disclosed in PTL 1, for example, athletic wear that controls athletic posture in sports, wherein the base fabric of elastic athletic wear has a posture-controlling fabric, comprising a material with greater degree of expansion and contraction, sewn or adhesively attached to the back side of the athletic wear fabric, the posture-controlling fabric being sewn in such a manner as to pull the forward-tilted posture from the back side when a forward-tilted posture has been adopted during athletic activity, so that the forward-tilted posture is adopted more easily.
However, the athletic wear disclosed in PTL 1 pulls the forward-tilted posture from the back by a material with a high degree of expansion and contraction to maintain the forward-tilted posture, and does not focus on the pelvis and is not designed to erect the pelvis or maintain the pelvis in an erect state.
PTL 2 discloses sports wear comprising a highly restraining material and a weakly restraining material, having its main structural section formed of a stretch material and designed to be worn with its surface closely fitting to the skin of the wearer, the highly restraining material being located at positions that include the regions in contact with areas from the head of the wearer to the neck, back, lumbar, gluteal, femoral and lower leg areas, and the weakly restraining material being located in the regions other than the regions in which the highly restraining material is located.
However, the sports wear disclosed in PTL 2 serves to assist in maintaining a bent pelvic state, a bent knee state and a raised head state in the forward-tilted posture, by positioning the highly restraining material at the different locations, whereas it does not focus on the pelvis and is not designed to erect the pelvis or maintain the pelvis in an erect state.
As clothing designed to support the lumbar region, PTL 3 discloses exercising leggings having the main structural section formed of a stretch material, being worn in a closely fitting state with the surface of the lower body of the wearer, and comprising a first type of material and a second type of material, wherein the restraining force of the first type of material is stronger than the restraining force of the second type of material, the first type of material being located at positions that cover all or a portion of at least both gluteus maximus muscles, and the second type of material being located at the regions other than the regions in which the first type of material is located.
However, the exercising leggings disclosed in PTL 3 assist in contraction of the femoral muscles, and this invention is not focused on the pelvis and is not designed to erect the pelvis or maintain the pelvis in an erect state.
Also, PTL 4 discloses a garment comprising a stretch fabric wherein the garment covers at least a part of the lower body of a wearer, has a crotch part, and is worn by being fitted to the wearer's body, wherein: the garment in part has a portion with a strong straining force; the portion with a strong straining force is a strong straining portion; right and left parts of the portion are connected at a position on the back side of the garment corresponding to any region from os sacrum to vertebrae lumbalis of the wearer's body; and the portion covers a region extending from the position through tops of bulges of the buttocks or vicinities thereof approximately in the direction of muscle fibers of musculus gluteus maximus at right and left to at least the vicinity of trochanter major.
However, the garment disclosed in PTL 4 improves stability of the hip joint, and this invention is not focused on the pelvis and is not designed to erect the pelvis or maintain the pelvis in an erect state.